Maybe Alex Rodriguez played in a card game where poker pros and Hollywood big shots had fist fights over $500,000 debts while snorting cocaine off of their chip stacks.

Maybe he didn’t.

Either way, who cares?

– Jim Rich, N.Y. Daily News.

I get what Rich is saying here, and I understand all the bluster over Major League Baseball investigating this after not reacting particularly strongly to the rash of drunk-driving arrests that plagued the sport in the Spring. Drunk driving puts innocent lives at risk, and playing poker risks only money.

But keep in mind that all A-Rod has endured so far for his poker playing is a bit of media sanctimony (plus whatever losses he took at the hands of shrewd cardsharks like Tobey Maguire). The league absolutely should investigate its players’ participation in high-stakes gambling, because it’s the league’s job to maintain the integrity of the sport.

Poker is a fun hobby for many of us, and apparently for A-Rod too. And lord knows he has the type of resources to cover pretty substantial losses without resorting to anything nefarious. But if he’s really involved with the type of people who send “thugs” to games to shake down players, MLB needs to at least look into it — if not for fear that A-Rod would end up intentionally altering on-field outcomes, then to put out the ol’ Marlo Stanfield my-name-is-my-name message to players around the league.

And I know it sounds almost ridiculous to think that players could throw games in this day and age, but gambling is a massive and still-shady industry and it allegedly impacted the NBA as recently as four years ago.